Atrial fibrosis can be estimated noninvasively by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), but diastolic dysfunction is clinically assessed by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), and rarely by MRI. This study aimed to evaluate well-established diastolic parameters using MRI, and validate them with TTE and left ventricular (LV) filling pressures, and to study the

Development of human hematopoietic stem cells and differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells/induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to hematopoietic stem cells are poorly understood. NOD (Non-obese diabetic)-derived mouse strains, such as NSG (NOD-Scid-il2Rg) or NRG (NOD-Rag1-il2Rg), are the best available models for studying the function of fetal and adult human hematopoietic cells as well as ES/

Biorefineries are the backbone of “white biotechnology”, the 3rd wave of biotechnology which aims to replace classic C2/C3 chemistry by biotechnological processes. In analogy to petrorefineries biorefineries aim at the integrated and simultaneous production of bulk products, as e.g. biofuels, or biopolymers, heat and power, using biomass. In order to avoid any competition with food production the

1. IntroductionThe third and latest wave of biotechnology is the so called „white biotechnology“ aiming to replace the C2/C3 chemistry based on oil and gas by biological processes. The backbone of biotechnology is the conversion by fermentation which is widely established in the production of antibiotics, enzymes, bioethanol and organic acids. In the past, fermentation processes had to partly comp

The aim of the study was to explore trajectories of breathlessness intensity by function and life-limiting illness diagnosis in the last 3 weeks of life in palliative care patients. A prospective, consecutive cohort study obtained point-of-care data of patients of Silver Chain Hospice Care Service (Perth, Australia) over the period 2011–2014 (n=6801; 51494 data-points). Breathlessness intensity (0

Despite extensive studies, defining culture conditions in which hematopoietic stem cells can be expanded ex vivo has been challenging. Here we show that chemical inhibition of the NF- κB signaling pathway leads to a significant improvement of hematopoietic stem cell function from ex vivo cultured human umbilical cord blood derived CD34+ cells. We found a distinct peak of activation of the NF-κB pa

This paper addresses coherence at the levels of policy objectives and instruments. The existing literature usually links policy coherence to strong hierarchical coordination mechanisms. This paper builds on two cases of, respectively, hierarchical imposition and deliberation within the European Commission (the step‐up to a 30% greenhouse gas reduction target on the one hand, and the energy efficie

1. The breakdown and faecal bulking capacity of dietary fibre preparations from wheat bran, apple, cabbage, carrot, and guar gum were compared in man and rat. 2. The degradation of the fibre showed good correlation between man and rat (r 0.99, regression coefficient 0.86). Wheat bran was the least well-digested, 66 and 59% of the neutral sugars being excreted in faeces of man and rat respectively.

Cereal dietary fibre constitutes about half of the total fibre intake in Sweden. The amount of fibre available is 21 g/person/day or 1·75 g/MJ. Increased faecal bulk and shortening of intestinal transit time are well-documented effects, that are inversely proportional to the fermentability of the dietary fibre. Wheat bran, oat husks, and corn bran are fibre sources with high bulking effect, wherea

The fermentative breakdown of dietary fibre in raw and popped whole-grain wheat products was investigated by using rat balance dietary experiments. The faecal excretion of total dietary fibre was 74% with raw wheat, compared with 58% with the ‘severely’ popped product. The increased fermentability, could be partly related to an increased proportion of soluble fibre, but also to the formation of ac

Differential evolution is a real value encoded evolutionary algorithm for global optimization. It has gained popularity due to its simplicity and efficiency. Use of special kind of mutation and crossover operators differentiates it from other evolutionary algorithms. In recent times, it has been widely used in different fields of science and engineering. Among recently developed various variants o

Polyploidization is an important process in the evolution of eukaryotic genomes, but ensuing molecular mechanisms remain to be clarified. Autopolyploidization or whole-genome duplication events frequently are resolved in resulting lineages by the loss of single genes from most duplicated pairs, causing transient gene dosage imbalance and accelerating speciation through meiotic infertility. Allopol

Aims: Survival after cancer diagnosed during childhood or adolescence continues to improve with new treatments and supportive therapies. Optimal long-term care requires that risks to vulnerable organs are clearly defined and translated into guidelines that are implemented into practice. PanCareLIFE is a pan-European consortium that addresses survivorship issues comprising fertility, hearing impair

Background: High-level sports have been described as a risk situation for mental health problems and substance misuse. This, however, has been sparsely studied for problem gambling, and it is unknown whether problem gaming, corresponding to the tentative diagnosis of internet gaming disorder, may be overrepresented in athletes. This study aimed to study the prevalence and correlates of problem gam

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified the chromosome 15q25.1 locus as a leading susceptibility region for lung cancer. However, the pathogenic pathways, through which susceptibility SNPs within chromosome 15q25.1 affects lung cancer risk, have not been explored. We analyzed three cohorts with GWAS data consisting 42,901 individuals and lung expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) dat

The virtual version of the Trier Social Stress Test (V-TSST) is an effective and standardized tool for social stress induction. This study aimed to examine gut permeability and physiological and inflammatory markers of reactivity to acute psychosocial stress. Forty young men were classified as high-stressed (HIGHS) or low-stressed (LOWS) according to the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire. Cardi

Background: The objective was to compare patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) who were included in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (trial participants) with patients who were not included (nonparticipants) on a trial-by-trial basis and according to indication for PCI. Methods: In this cohort study, we compared patients with IHD who were